At the beginning of the year, many of us open our calendars and write down resolutions and plans for the upcoming twelve months. This habit has a long tradition – Fryderyk Chopin already had a pocket calendar so they were already part of everyday life then.
Calendae – this is what the first day of the month or the day of payment was called in ancient Rome. The word calendarium initially referred to a register of debts and, over time, gained the meaning of a book containing announcements (from the ancient custom of monthly announcements on the Capitol of the length of the month and its most important events). In today’s calendars, we also find lists of holidays, days off, name days and other important information (fortunately without debt registers).
Calendars appeared in Poland in the 15th century, and they had become common by the end of the 19th century. They took the form of book publications – also known as almanacs or new-year books – which were decorated with illustrations by renowned painters and graphic artists. For example, the pages of the almanacs for 1777 and 1800 featured etchings by Daniel Mikołaj Chodowiecki, and the Kalendarz Warszawski Popularno-Naukowy na rok przestępny 1860 [‘the Warsaw popular-scientific calendar for the leap year 1860’] featured engravings by Jan Feliks Piwarski.
The new-year books contained not only occasional data but also – as in the case of Kalendarz Gospodarski na rok Pański 1853 [‘the agriculture calendar for the year 1853’] – astronomical observations, meteorological forecasts, medical advice, mail coach schedules and lists of major fairs. The calendar could also contain information intended for a specific target group, such as the list of employees of educational institutions, which occupied a significant part of Kalendarzyk Wileński na Rok 1825 dla wydziału naukowego wileńskiego [‘the Vilnius calendar for the year 1825 for the Vilnius scientific department’].
If you associate the word carol with the calendar, then you are right – it has the same root, and it used to refer to a gift or New Year’s ritual; to go carolling meant visiting each other to congratulate them on the New Year. Following this old Slavic custom, we would like to give our best wishes to our Users – we hope you will spend this year with us!
Pages from a calendar of Fryderyk Chopin from 23-26 July 1848 with handwritten notes.